Japantown in San Francisco

 

Japantown in San Francisco in April 2014

Japantown is a fascinating piece of urban landscape for those interested in both the cultural history of San Francisco & the history of architecture.  Here is an example that is uncommon in North America: mid-century modern Japanese commercial architecture & public landscape design.  I've never seen anything else quite like it.  It could be the set for a Japanese film made in 1968, the year Japantown opened.  The modern design of the pagoda is bold & intricate, while the fountains are minimal, yet accommodating in their seating.  In addition to the short streetscape pictured here, there is a mall.  Both are filled with shops & restaurants.  A few other, taller mid-century buildings provide some backdrop.  Japantown is near the Fillmore Street business district in Pacific Heights, also filled with shops & restaurants.

National AIDS Memorial Grove

National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco in April 2014

The National AIDS Memorial Grove is located in the de Laveaga dell in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The dell has always been one of the most charming parts of the park, which has nowhere near the topography as most of this city, notorious for its steep hills. The park is gently rolling & the dell makes a small cleft at its eastern end, not far from the residential & business district of the Haight. The dell contained redwood trees long before the creation of the AIDS grove, which added more of the trees & greatly improved the landscaping of the entire length of the dell. It is a pleasure to spend time in this quiet little forest. The small plaza is inscribed with the names of people who have died from AIDS. There is a curved bench along a low stone wall.  The landscape here is tasteful in every way.

The de Laveaga dell was created through a gift from the estate of Jose Vicente de Laveaga in 1898. When the dell was opened to in 1921, it included a lake & stream, with live oaks & tree ferns that still exist at the opposite end from the redwood grove.  The lake has become a lawn & the stream is mostly dry stones.  The present form of this landscape began in 1991 with the first work party of volunteers.  In that same year, a team of landscape professionals, under the guidance of Garrett Eckbo, developed the basic design & master plan, approved the following year.  The US Congress & President Bill Clinton approved the National AIDS Memorial Grove Act in 1996, which officially set aside the dell as the site for the first AIDS memorial in the nation. This legislation was introduced by Representative Nancy Pelosi & Senator Dianne Feinstein, both from the San Francisco Bay Area. Feinstein is a former mayor of San Francisco.

Arthur L. Menzies Garden of California Native Plants

Rhododendron occidentale

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos species)

Iris douglasiana

All photos were taken in April 2014.

Click here for more photos of the San Francisco Botanical Garden.

The Arthur L. Menzies Garden of California Native Plants is the one of the most beautiful & amazing native plant gardens I have seen.  It is jam-packed with many different native plants, yet manages to look natural & only somewhat cultivated, at the same time.  It covers 4 acres of the San Francisco Botanical Garden (formerly Strybing Arboretum) in Golden Gate Park with arroyos, ponds, woodlands & a wildflower meadow.  It is the best-tended site within the botanical garden & the main reason to visit there, in my opinion.  This, the arboretum's most popular spring attraction, is most lovely in April & May.  I have a great love of native plants in general & California native plants in particular.  I studied garden design in San Francisco starting in 1988, the same year the redesign of the native plant garden was installed.  The new garden was designed by the San Francisco landscape architect Ron Lutsko Jr. & won a National Award of Merit from the American Society of Landscape Architects.  The original native plant garden dates back to 1960.  Another amazing California native plant garden is the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, which rivals this one.  It is located in Claremont in the Los Angeles area & focuses on the ecosystems of the southern part of the state. 

San Francisco Botanical Garden

Members of the families Proteaceae & Restionaceae from South Africa.

Agave americana in the succulent garden.

Banksia from Australia.

Bromeliad from Chile.

The Chilean collection.  All photos were taken at the San Francisco Botanical Garden in April 2014.

The San Francisco Botanical Garden is located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.  It was once known as Strybing Arboretum.  The name changed in 2004, when Strybing Arboretum became the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum.  The present location was selected in 1890, based on the presence of  a variety of soil and exposure, with sloping, dry and sunny hillsides, sheltered spots & marshy land.  Helene Strybing donated the money to establish the arboretum in 1926, work began during the 1930s & the arboretum opened in 1940.

Landscape architect Robert Tetlow prepared a master plan in 1959.  It established present features such as the great meadow, the fountain & the basic layout of the gardens.  I consider the meadow a great waste of space.  Seven existing gardens were renovated in the 2000s & the Southeast Asian Cloud Forest was added at that time.  Maintenance is not always very good at the botanical garden.  I have been disappointed in almost all of the plant collections at different times.  I've visited the garden every few years since I left San Francisco in 1992.  The Moon-Viewing Garden, added in the 1970s, was looking rather bare in 2014.  The Arthur L. Menzies Garden of California Native Plants has been a constant delight.  The Succulent Garden is always impressive.  The South African, Chilean, Australian & New Zealand gardens wax & wane.  But overall, it's a wonderful experience for people interested in plants.

Carmelita Street in San Francisco

Waller Street at the corner of Carmelita Street.

Carmelita Street in San Francisco in April 2014.

Carmelia Street is my favorite street in San Francisco.  I used to live not far from here in the Lower Haight & just a bit farther away at Alamo Square.  My preferred hotel, the Metro Hotel, is very near Carmelita Street, which serves as a major pedestrian thoroughfare to & from the N Judah Muni Metro light rail train stop at the top of Duboce Park, & between the Castro & the Lower Haight.  The N Judah will take you all the way from the Embarcadero to Ocean Beach.  Carmelita Street is about half a block long between Waller Street & Duboce Park.  There is no outlet at the Duboce Park end of the street for vehicular traffic, but a pedestrian path across the park.  The 16 houses on Carmelita Street are all good examples of San Francisco Edwardian architecture from about 1900 to 1910, & all very nicely maintained.  In addition, the gardens along the street are exceptionally lovely.  The one fully landscaped driveway is wonderful.  It serves as a parking space.  We can all learn something from that.